Distributive Justice and World Trade Law: A Political Theory of International Trade Regulation

摘要

I agree: 'We live in an unequal world. This much is beyond dispute' (p. 3). The unequal distribution of wealth within and between countries - the simultaneity of shocking poverty and stunning profusion - is one of the world's most notable features. It is clear that there are reasons for these conditions that have nothing to do with international trade or international law; but it is also clear that international trade, and the way in which it is legally framed, has something to do with it. So, in Distributive Justice and World Trade Law, Oisin Suttle asks head on: 'first, what does justice demand in the regulation of international trade? And second, to what extent does the existing regime for trade in goods respond to those demands?' (pp. 9,177). His answer dives into political theory in the wake of John Rawls to develop a principle of Equality in Global Commerce (EGC). That principle, Suttle clarifies, does not provide a 'grand blueprint... of a just global order' but rather offers 'a standard for judging the justice and injustice of the most important institutions that we find in the world, namely states, and the measures they adopt' (p. 19).